Defense

Iran’s capture of a U.S. military underwater drone gives Tehran an opportunity to study and potentially reverse-engineer the vessel, delivering a setback for the Pentagon and drone maker Anduril. The U.S. military and Anduril have downplayed the significance of the drone falling into Iranian hands. The vessel, a Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle designed for long-range surveillance and other…

When Andy Markoff deployed to Mosul with the U.S. Marine Raiders in 2016, one of the challenges they faced as they pushed ISIS fighters back along a hundred-mile front was that they never had enough munitions, he said. Markoff explained that calling in air support was an effective way to clear an area, but with thousands of potential targets and few available weapon systems, he constantly had to…

In the wake of Iranian attacks that devastated U.S. bases in the Middle East, the U.S. Air Force wants portable air-defense guns that can destroy drones and cruise missiles. The Ground-Based, Medium-Caliber Gun Weapon System project is aiming for a weapon “that fires affordable munitions, enables defense against air and missile threats with an initial focus on subsonic cruise missiles (CM) and…

The U.S. Air Force is accelerating its timeline for a cheaper, more expendable successor to the MQ-9A Reaper, officials said Sept. 3, after combat losses left the service unwilling to wait out the rest of the drone’s life. Lt. Gen. Christopher Niemi, the Air Force’s chief modernization officer, told reporters at the Pentagon that a follow-on was already under discussion as the MQ-9 aged out.